Standardize and streamline tasks that are highly dependent on individual skills using Excel and macros
System integration was the key to achieving the mission of business improvement

IR Debt Collection Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as IR Debt Collection) was established in 2000, and began operations in June of the following year after receiving permission from the Minister of Justice to operate as a debt management and collection business. The company is highly regarded as a comprehensive servicer that prioritizes compliance and makes use of the know-how and management capabilities it has cultivated over many years.

Aiming for further growth, the company faced the challenge of inefficient internal operations due to their dependency on individual employees. Although they had introduced a core package specialized for the unique business of servicers (debt collection companies), it was primarily focused on functions for printing reports in accordance with laws and regulations. However, the functionality was insufficient for actual business use. As a result, many internal operations were carried out based on Excel and macros created by individual departments or individuals. To improve this situation, an internal project team was formed. They set out to achieve their mission of improving the system and standardizing and streamlining operations.

Benefits of implementation

Daily operations cannot be carried out using only mission-critical system, core system

IR Debt Collection, which operates as a comprehensive service provider that handles debt purchasing and collection services, has implemented a dedicated package as mission-critical system, core system. However, because the core package is a system specialized in outputting legally required forms, it does not provide the detailed data utilization functions necessary for daily debt collection operations. "We had numerous Excel spreadsheets and macros in the company because each department and each employee created individual files, such as compiling information by due date for collection operations," says Mr. Kojima of the company. As a result, on-site business data became personalized, and it was not possible to grasp how data was being used throughout the company. "To improve this situation and standardize and streamline operations, we began considering the introduction of new systems and tools, and we decided to start with BI."

The BI tool they introduced can directly read data from Oracle, the standard database for the core package. So, at first they imported the data directly from the database, but that alone did not allow them to analyze it in BI and display it in the way they expected. "The tables in mission-critical system, core system 's database are finely normalized. Therefore, if you just imported the data directly, you would only be able to display the employee code when displaying the department and person in charge of a project, and you would not be able to display the name of the person in charge," says Mr. Kojima. To solve this problem, the data had to be processed into a form that was easy to analyze before being imported into BI. "When we consulted with a BI vendor, they told us that many companies use ETL tools to prepare data before analysis, and they recommended DataSpider International (hereafter referred to as DataSpider)," says Mr. Kojima.

Not just BI integration: Introducing DataSpider with an eye to the future

In fact, at the time, they were also working on another project in parallel with the introduction of the BI tool. "We decided to outsource some of our work and were considering how to transfer data with the contractor. One of the options that came up was the data conversion tool DataMagic," says Kojima.

Another deciding factor was that it can be used without programming. The current system management team is made up of older employees, so an important requirement for future operation was that the system can be maintained and expanded by employees themselves, even if they do not have programming skills. "If it is created using Excel or macros, it is stored on an individual's PC and can only be used and maintained by that individual, which makes it easy to become dependent on one person. With DataSpider, the screen is easy to understand, and specifications can also be generated. We thought that in the future, if employees use DataSpider instead of Excel or macros, it could be used as a system within the company," says Kojima.

Creating an environment where requests for improvement can be responded to quickly

Currently, mission-critical system, core system is linked with BI, and the task of compiling preliminary figures for actual and forecast results on a daily basis is automated using DataSpider. This eliminates the need for a person to spend about an hour each day compiling data in Access or Excel and send it by email.

Image of data integration between mission-critical system, core system and BI systems

Although it took some time to set up the environment for the introduction, the implementation was extremely smooth. "At first we had trouble with other servers not being recognized, but with support from Hitachi Systems we were able to connect without any problems. Once we were able to connect to the server, the rest was really easy and we completed data integration process in one day (Kojima)." The implementation and verification of the series of steps from collating data extracted from the database to outputting it was also easy. "It was helpful that coding was not required as it was developed using a GUI. It was also convenient that we could use the test execution function to immediately try and check how it actually executed and what was output (Kojima)."

Going forward, they plan to gradually expand this to other business processes and further streamline operations. Initially, they were considering data integration with outsourced companies, but they discovered that some items had to be checked manually, so they have not yet been able to automate this. However, they will continue to explore whether they can automate even just part of the process with DataSpider. They also plan to use DataSpider for a variety of other purposes, such as integrating it with the accounting cloud service they currently use.

"Until now, when a request for operational improvement was made, the only thing we could do was to start by requesting a quote for system development, but now that we know we can do it ourselves, I think we've been able to create an environment with DataSpider that allows us to achieve this in a short amount of time and at no cost," says Kojima. IR Debt Collection's mission to improve operational efficiency has only just begun.

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